Envelope blank forming means comprising a reciprocating head having notching, punching and creasing tools thereon



Aug, 11, 1964 T. F. ARONSON' ETAL 3,143,933

ENVELOPE BLANK FORMING MEANS COMPRISING A RECIPROCATING HEAD HAVING NOTCHING, PUNCHING AND CREASING TOOLS THEREON Original Filed Sept. 16, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 mmvrons THEODORE F. ARONSON BY FLOYD A. LYON ATTORNEY.

Aug. 11, 1964 T. F. ARONSON ETAL ENVELOPE BLANK FORMING MEANS COMPRISING A RECIPROCATING HEAD HAVING NOTCHING, PUNCHING AND CREASING TOOLS THEREON Original Filed Sept. 16, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS THEODORE E ARONSON BY FLOYD A. LYON United States Patent Head, NX.

(Friginal application Sept. 15, 1959, Ser. No. 840,397, now Patent No. 3,025,770, dated Mar. 20, 1962. Divided and this appiication July 6, 1961, Ser. No. 122,356

Claims. (Cl. 93-63) This invention relates to high speed means and methods for forming, cutting, and feeding envelope blanks.

This application is a division of our prior application S.N. 840,397, now Patent 3,025,770, of the same title which is a continuation-in-part of our prior application, Serial No. 766,889, filed October 13, 1958, for Strip Feeding Means, now US. Patent 3,053,129.

That application shows means for feeding a web to a first work location at constant speed, feeding the web intermittently at the work location, notching and punching the web with a reciprocating die at the work location, and cutting the web into pieces with a reciprocating knife at a second work location.

The present application is an improvement of our prior application in that it provides means for prescoring fold lines in the blanks simultaneously with the notching and punching. The prior method of prescoring has been to first cut the web into pieces, and then to prescore the separate blanks. The prior method was cumbersome in that it required additional separate handling of the pieces and an additional prescoring operation, and its registration of the prescoring was not comparable to the present method wherein the prescoring is done on the web before it is cut. In the present method the prescoring is done with a special attachment to the notching and punching die.

Accordingly, a principal object of the invention is to provide new and improved envelope blank forming means.

Another object of the invention is to provide new and improved web or strip feeding, cutting, prescoring, and delivery means.

Another object of the invention is to provide new and improved high speed envelope blank forming means.

Another object of the invention is to provide new and improved high speed web processing means.

Another object of the invention is to provide new and improved means and methods for feeding a web or strip at constant speed to a first work location, feeding said web intermittently at said work location, punching, notching, and prescoring said web simultaneously at said work location, cutting said web into blanks at a second work location, and feeding said pieces from said second work location.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following specification and drawings, of which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view partially broken away of an embodiment of the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a side view of the die means partially in section, and

3,143,938 Patented Aug. 11, 1se4 k FIGURE 3 is a detail enlarged view of the scoring nife.

FIGURE 1 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention as disclosed in our prior application. All of the members are mounted in a pair of side frames F and F the frame F being cut away to show the interior construction. The strip or web 1 is fed from a roll 2 by means of an input roller 3 which is mounted between and journalled to the frame members and which is driven by the constant speed motor 5, as will be discussed. Spring loaded pressure roller 6 bears against the roller 3.

The strip then passes over an idler roller 7 which is adapted to oscillate up and down. The roller 7 is mounted on arms 8 and 9, the other ends of which are mounted on the shaft 10 which is journalled between and to the frame members F and F An arm 11 is fixedly connected to the shaft 15 and has a cam follower 11' which rides in an eccentric groove 12 of the flywheel cam 12. The flywheel cam is mounted on a shaft 13 which is journalled to the frame and which is driven at constant speed by the motor 5 by means of the chain 14 by means of sprocket 15 connected thereto and sprocket 16 mounted on the shaft 13. The chain 4 passes over sprockets 17, 13 and 25 mounted on a shaft 21 which is journalled between and to the frame members and which is connected to drive the output roller 22 through a slip clutch 23, or the clutch may be eliminated and the roller 22 may slip on the web when it is retarded. Sprocket 20 is approximately half the diameter of sprocket 17 so that output roller 22 speed is approximately twice that of input roller 3 speed. A spring loaded pressure roller 22 is pivotally mounted on and between the frames and bears against the output roller 22.

The work station is illustrated as a punch and die set comprising a stationary lower die 25 and a reciprocating upper die 26 which is connected to shaft 27 connected to block 28 which slides in gibs (not shown) connected to the frame. The block 28 is pivotally connected to connecting rod 32 and is driven by a pair of crank arms 30 and 31 mounted on the main drive shaft 13 through connecting rod 32. The main drive shaft 13 continues over and is journalled to the frame F The apparatus thus far described operates as follows: The roller 3 pulls the strip at constant speed. The roller 7 oscillates up and down and manipulates the slack loop in the stripso that the motion of the strip past the work station is intermittent but has an average speed equal to the input speed. This arrangement permits high speed operation since the only thing that is intermittently varied in speed is the strip which has negligible weight. All of the relatively heavy apparatus moves at constant or smoothly varying speed.

The strip is taken away by the driven roller 22 bearing against the pressure roller 24. The strip movement by the roller 22 is intermittent since it operates through the slip clutch 23.

Additional work stations may be added on to or substituted for the work apparatus thus far described. For instance, the strip may then be printed, crimped, cut or glued as desired. FIGURE 1 illustrates a cutting knife 35 which is adapted to slide up and down in the guides 3s and 37 connected to the frames. The knife 35 is mounted on a shaft 33 and is drivably connected by means of the connecting member 40 connected to the shaft 41 which is journalled to the frame members at each end and which is rotated by means of the arm 42 and cam follower 42' which rides on the cam 43 mounted on the main shaft 13. The knife, therefore, operates in synchronism to cut the strip into blanks or pieces. The moving knife blade shears off the strip against the stationary blade 45 and the pieces may be stacked or fed onto a moving belt 50 mounted at an angle to the previous strip motion axis. The speed of the belt 50 would preferably be chosen to fan out the cut pieces so that they could be easily glued on one flap by running a glue roller across the laminated pieces and fed to other work apparatus, for instance, an envelope folding machine, located at the end of belt 50.

FIGURE 2 shows a side view of the die means for performing the punching, notching, and prescoring substantially simultaneously on the paper web 1 which moves perpendicular the plane of view of FIGURE 2. The die comprises a lower base 100 having a die plate 101 mounted thereon. The upper die comprises a first die plate 102 and a second die plate 103 which is movably connected to the first die plate by means of studs 104 and 105. The second die plate is spring loaded away from the first die plate by means of springs 106 and 107 and the studs are free to move in the slots 108 and 109 of the die plate 102. Suitable guide shafts 110 and 111 and corresponding bushings 110 and 111 are provided for guiding the motion of the upper die plate which is provided via the actuating shaft 27. The second die plate 103 is apertured to permit the punches 112, 113, and 114 to extend into corresponding recesses in the die plate 101. The prescoring is done by prescoring knives 115 and 116 which extend into corresponding recesses 115' and 116 in the spring loaded plate 103.

In operation, lower die 100 is stationary and the upper die moves up and down by means of the shaft 27. The spacing of the spring loaded plate 103 is chosen so that as the upper die descends, the plate 103 first clamps the web to the bottom die plate 101, at the same time prescoring the web with the small scoring knives 115 and 116. These knives extend only about .010 of an inch above the surface of the plate 101, and the recesses in plate 103 are larger so that the scoring knives will not cut the web. Substantially simultaneously with the scoring, the punches 112 and 114 and two corresponding punches behind them, not shown, make the four edge notches in the web. The center punch 113 makes the diamond cut in the center of the web. As the upper die is then lifted the spring loaded plate 103 tends to strip the web from contact with the punches.

The spring loaded plate 103 therefore performs the important functions of clamping the paper, prescoring the paper, and then stripping the paper from the punches.

FIGURE 3 shows a detail view of the prescoring knife 115. The lower die plate 101 is recessed to accommodate the mounting block 120 for the knife 115. The mounting block is secured to the lower die plate 101 by means of the bolt 121. The knife 115 is adjustably secured to the block 120 by means of the clamping block 119 which is clamped to the block 120 by means of bolt 118. This arrangement permits adjusting the height of the prescoring knife above the upper level of the die plate 101. The prescoring knives extend around the lower die plate for forming prescored lines. The recess clearance 115' in die 103 is much larger than knife 115 and offset so that the paper is pinched between knife 115 and edge 119 of recess 115', and not cut.

We claim: I

1. Die means for prescoring fold lines in a paper comprising a lower stationary die having slots, prescoring knives mounted in said slots, a first upper die plate connected to be reciprocated, a second upper die plate movably connected to and below said first upper die plate, spring means connected to spring load said second upper 4 die plate away from said first upper die plate, said second upper die plate being notched to receive said prescoring knife edges with sufiicient clearance so that said web is not cut by said knife.

2. Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said first upper die plate has punches connected thereto, said second upper die plate is apertured to permit said punches to pass through and said lower die plate is recessed to receive said punches whereby a paper between said lower die plate and said second upper die plate is prescored, clamped in said second upper die plate to said lower die plate, and punched substantially simultaneously.

3. Die means for prescoring fold lines in a paper comprising a lower stationary die having slots, prescoring knives removably mounted in said slots, a first upper die plate connected to be reciprocated, clamping and stripping means comprising a second upper die plate movably connected to and below said first upper die plate, spring means connected to spring load said second upper die plate away from said first upper die plate, said second upper die plate being notched with sufficient clearance to receive said prescoring knife edges without cutting said paper, said first upper die plate having punches connected thereto, and said second upper die plate being apertured to permit said punches to pass through, and said lower die plate being recessed to receive said punches whereby said paper between said lower die plate and said second upper die plate is prescored, then clamped in said second upper die plate to said lower die plate, then punched substantially simultaneously, and then stripped from said punches.

4. Means for making envelope blanks comprising, means for feeding a web at constant speed to a first work location, means for intermittently feeding said web at said work location, reciprocating die means connected to said intermittent feeding means for notching, punching and prescoring said web simultaneously when said web is stopped at said work location, said die means for prescoring fold lines in said web comprising a lower stationary die having slots, prescoring knives mounted in said slots, a first upper die plate connected to be reciprocated, a second upper die plate movably connected to and below said first upper die plate, spring means connected to spring load said second upper die plate away from said first upper die plate, said second upper die plate being notched to receive said prescoring knife edges with sufiicient clearance so that said web is not cut by said knife, and reciprocating knife means connected to said reciprocating die means for thereafter cutting said web at a second Work location spaced a predetermined amount from said first location.

5. Means for making envelope blanks comprising, means for feeding a web at constant speed to a first work location, means for intermittently feeding said web at said work location, reciprocating die means connected to said intermittent feeding means for notching, punching and prescoring said web simultaneously when said web is stopped at said work location, die means for prescoring fold lines in said web comprising a lower stationary die having slots, prescoring knives mounted in said slots, a first upper die plate connected to be reciprocated, a second upper die plate movably connected to and below said first upper die plate, spring means connected to spring load said second upper die plate away from said first upper die plate, said second upper die plate being notched to receive said prescoring knife edges with sufficient clearance so that said web is not cut by said knife, said first upper die plate having punches connected thereto, said second upper die plate being apertured to permit said punches to pass through and said lower die plate being recessed to receive said punches whereby a paper between said lower die plate and said second upper die plate is prescored, clamped by said second upper die plate to said lower die plate, and punched substantially simultaneously, and said web is stripped from said punches References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Dewey Apr. 25, 1933 Moeller Aug. 16, 1938 6 Attwood Dec. 20, 1938 Boerger Apr. 25, 1939 Moeller Jan. 13, 1942 Troth May 8, 1951 Dutro Oct. 13, 1953 Almgren Oct. 25, 1955 Aronson Mar. 20, 1962 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany Oct. 26, 1929 

1. DIE MEANS FOR PRESCORING FOLD LINES IN A PAPER COMPRISING A LOWER STATIONARY DIE HAVING SLOTS, PRESCORING KNIVES MOUNTED IN SAID SLOTS, A FIRST UPPER DIE PLATE CONNECTED TO BE RECIPROCATED, A SECOND UPPER DIE PLATE MOVABLY CONNECTED TO AND BELOW SAID FIRST UPPER DIE PLATE, SPRING MEANS CONNECTED TO SPRING LOAD SAID SECOND UPPER DIE PLATE AWAY FROM SAID FIRST UPPER DIE PLATE, SAID SECOND UPPER DIE PLATE BEING NOTCHED TO RECEIVE SAID PRESCORING KNIFE EDGES WITH SUFFICIENT CLEARANCE SO THAT SAID WEB IS NOT CUT BY SAID KNIFE. 